In the World of the High Tech Redneck, the Graybeard is the old guy who earned his gray by making all the mistakes, and then tries to keep the young 'uns from repeating them. Silicon Graybeard is my term for an old hardware engineer; a circuit designer. Here are mental droppings from a newly retired radio engineer running from tech news to economics; from firearms to the world at large; from radio to home machine shops and making all kinds of stuff.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

My Congressman Responds

My US Representative is a pretty solid conservative, Bill Posey (R). I've written him on many issues before, and the office always responds with a position statement. The only times I've written, his response has been what I'd wanted. Before the session started, I wrote about the coming gun ban bills and received a response that he's on our side. I'm taking the liberty of copying some extracts of it here because I think it's pretty reasonable.

Dear <name redacted>

Thank you for contacting me in the aftermath of the tragic shootings in
Newtown, Connecticut to express your concern about proposals that would
restrict the Second Amendment rights of law abiding Americans. I share
your concerns.

As a father and a grandfather, my heart goes out to the parents and
families of these children, and the families of the teachers and school
employees whose lives were so tragically cut short.
.....
Clearly, the individual who perpetrated this terrible act (Adam Lanza)
was mentally disturbed, and news sources thus far indicated that
intervention was seriously lacking. The specifics of any mental or
developmental disability from which he suffered must be fully understood
and investigated. ....

Also, some media reports have indicated that he was on psychotropic
drugs. We need to understand what drug or drugs he was on and what role,
if any, these drugs may have played in his mental state and aggression.
Some reports indicate that his mother was in the process of having him
committed to a mental institution. Is this true? And, if so, what role
may this have played? ...

Additionally, media reports indicated that Lanza spent a considerable
amount of time playing violent first-person shooter video games. What
role if any did this play particularly when combined with his mental
instability, and possibly being on psychotropic prescription drugs? You
may recall that serious mental problems and addiction to violent video
games were also traits that investigators uncovered when investigating
the murders carried out by James Holmes at the movie theater in Aurora,
Colorado.

A Washington Post poll following this tragedy reports that a majority of
Americans believe that this incident reflects a larger problem in
American society. Some have suggested that the culture of violence is
poisoning the minds of children and these games are desensitizing
children to the reality of violence. The Parents Television Council
reports that the average child graduates from elementary school having
seen 8,000 murders and more than 100,000 acts of violence on television.
By age 18, the number of murders is up to 40,000. Can this level of
exposure be a factor in already troubled youths committing aggressive
acts, including murders?

...

Many long time advocates of restricting the Second Amendment began
calling for more gun control in the immediate aftermath of the
shootings. However, one must first consider that the state in which
this took place, Connecticut, already has some of the most restrictive
gun control laws in the country and those laws did not prevent this
unthinkable act. Initial reports indicate that the firearms belonged to
the shooter's mother, who herself was a victim of Lanza. We need that
part of the investigation to be completed so we know for certain whether
the firearms belonged to Ms. Lanza. If they do - and were in
compliance with current law - then we need to recognize that broad-base
firearms laws are not likely to be effective in preventing gun violence
in the future.

...

Sincerely,

Bill Posey
Member of Congress

That last sentence is a bit softer than I'd like, but it could be to make sure that any anti-gun voters (there must be some) think he's not automatically dismissing the new laws.

6 comments:

At least it was a response tailored to appeal to intelligence but I hope he wasn't insinuating we should ban violent video games and thus scuttle our first amendment rights. It worries me when people suggest that video games are responsible for violence when in fact it takes only cursory logic and basic facts to tell you that they aren’t. Trading one right for another is not a path to a freer society.

Yeah, I hope that's not his point. He has been good on defending rights, but obviously when the Evil party had the House majority, he got rolled over all the time.

Like a few months ago when they had the vote to de-fund ObamaCare in the House, he said something like, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to vote against this, but we've done these votes 30 times already and the Senate refuses to hear them. Why should we think they'll take our vote the 31st time?"

When the progressive fools (but I repeat myself) start to talk about the "ready availability of firearms", perhaps we should remind them that they _themselves_ make the situation worse when they publish the location of those very firearms for any thief or psycho who wishes to acquire them, as was done by the Journal News in New York.

Yada Yada Yada.....yes...he talks the talk, in typical political mealy mouthed mushspeak. Question is does he walk the walk. Whatdoes his voting record say....because in reality what a polished turd in a suit says is irrelevant. All that matters is what they do.

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About Me

Retired radio engineer, follower of Christ, RF designer, mentor. Radio ham, home shop machinist, lapidary, silversmith, roadie cyclist, learning to be a rifleman, and home defender, - a guy with too many interests to keep track of.

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